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Baseball Bars Longtime Star for Steroid Use

Rafael Palmeiro, the Baltimore Orioles' slugger who defiantly insisted he had never used steroids at a Congressional hearing in March -- jabbing his left index finger at lawmakers to punctuate his denial -- was suspended for 10 days yesterday for violating Major League Baseball's steroids policy.

The first star player to fail a test under baseball's recently toughened drug rules, Palmeiro changed his denial yesterday to say he never took steroids intentionally, and he called the positive test an accident.

Three people in baseball with direct knowledge of the drug-testing program said yesterday that Major League Baseball was aware early last month that Palmeiro had failed a steroid test as he neared the career milestone of 3,000 hits. When Palmeiro collected his 3,000th hit on July 15, Major League Baseball paid for full-page congratulatory newspaper advertisements.

The three people did not want to be identified because the testing policy prohibits anyone in baseball from disclosing information about test results without authorization.

Palmeiro is the seventh major league player to test positive for a banned substance this season under baseball's new drug policy but the first to have a grievance before baseball's four-member Health Policy Advisory Committee passed on to an arbitrator. It was not immediately known when Palmeiro was tested except that the test was given during the regular season.

Under the major leagues' stricter policy for steroids and other drugs agreed to in January, every player will be tested once, without warning, from the start of spring training through the end of the season, and all players are subject to additional random testing. First-time offenders are suspended for 10 days, with longer bans for subsequent offenses.

The penalty against Palmeiro was held in abeyance until the arbitrator Shyam Das decided yesterday not to overturn it.

"I made a mistake," Palmeiro said in a conference call with reporters. "I hope the fans forgive me. This was in no way an intentional act."

Palmeiro's suspension is the latest black eye in what has been a monthslong progression of public-relations setbacks for baseball. The scandal involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative of California brought the barely hidden specter of steroid use exploding to the game's forefront and sullied the image of baseball's best-known player, Barry Bonds. Grudgingly, the baseball players union eventually conceded to more strict testing, although some congressmen and authorities on doping have criticized the new policy as lax and full of loopholes.

A Congressional hearing on steroid use March 17 brought Palmeiro and the greatest home run hitter of the previous decade, Mark McGwire, to Washington to testify about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

While McGwire's reputation suffered at the hearing when he declined to say he had never used steroids, Palmeiro came off as a shining, antidrug advocate.

In an opening statement to the House Committee on Government Reform, Palmeiro said: "I never used steroids. Period."

Palmeiro had been asked to testify because one of his former teammates, Jose Canseco, had called Palmeiro a steroid user in his tell-all book. In his appearance before the Congressional panel, Palmeiro, who is one of only four players with 3,000 hits and 500 career home runs, had disdain for the accusations, and for Canseco.

Already popular in Baltimore, Palmeiro was seen as the one player at the hearing who answered the accusations and stood up for himself. When the committee chairman, Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who led the steroids inquiry, convened a round-table group to look into steroid use in sports, Palmeiro was appointed as a member.

"We just had a committee meeting on July 7," said Dr. Charles Yesalis, a Pennsylvania State University professor and steroids expert who is a member of the Davis panel. "Palmeiro was on the conference call for the whole 90 minutes. I am shocked.

"I hope all the people who criticized Jose Canseco are rethinking their comments. I guess he might have been the most honest guy up there before Congress."

While answering questions from reporters yesterday, Palmeiro twice gave the impression that the steroid he ingested came from a supplement he took that he had obtained without a doctor's prescription. He said one of the lessons of his suspension was to be "very careful with what you take."

"See a doctor, get supplements from a reputable source," Palmeiro said. "It happened to me, and it can happen to anyone."

The players union said that it had been authorized by the Major League Baseball Arbitration Panel to release a statement from it, which read: "The result reached by the panel is based on the uncontested positive test result and our determination that the evidence in this record is not sufficient for the player to meet his burden of establishing that his positive test result was not due to his fault or negligence. The panel considers it important to point out that our decision does not equate to a finding or belief that Rafael Palmeiro -- whose testimony in many respects was quite compelling -- was untruthful in his testimony before this panel or any other body."

Palmeiro, who after his 10-day suspension is served will face the same random testing as any other player, yesterday made reference to the panel calling his testimony compelling.

"When I testified before Congress, I knew I was under oath and I told the truth," he said. "I am telling the truth again."

Asked to explain how he could test positive for steroids, Palmeiro said: "It makes no sense. There is nothing for me to gain and everything to lose. Why would I do this in a year when I went before Congress? In a season when I was going for 3,000 hits?

"I would not put my career and reputation and everything I've accomplished throughout my career on the line. I would not do that. I'm not a crazy person. I'm not stupid. It was an accident, and I'm paying the price."

Palmeiro, who was hitting .280 with 18 home runs when he was suspended, said he had viewed the 2005 season as potentially his last in baseball but said his suspension would not be the determining factor in whether he continued to play. He also said he planned to contact Davis and other members of the Committee on Government Reform.

Representative Henry Waxman of California, the committee's ranking Democrat, said yesterday of Palmeiro: "I am surprised, disappointed and saddened by this news. The positive test raises many questions for Mr. Palmeiro and baseball."

President Bush, who owned the Texas Rangers while Palmeiro played for the team, called Palmeiro "a friend" in a round-table interview yesterday with reporters from several Texas newspapers and said "he's testified in public and I believe him," The Associated Press reported.

At Baltimore's Camden Yards yesterday afternoon, where a large banner still hung in right field congratulating Palmeiro on his 3,000 hits,Orioles Manager Lee Mazzilli informed Palmeiro's teammates of the suspension.

"I think the guys were taken back by it," Mazzilli said after the Orioles lost to the Chicago White Sox. "They were saddened and a little disappointed. The guys all wanted to give their support to Raffy." A statement to the team from Palmeiro was read in the players' clubhouse before the game.

Jim Beattie, the team's executive vice president for baseball operations, said it was important for players to "understand there are regulated substances and nonregulated substances." Beattie also indicated that other players had complained of poor labeling on diet supplements.

"We've got to be as supportive as we can," the Orioles' B.J. Surhoff said of Palmeiro. "No doubt this is going to be a tough ride for him."

On the concourse beneath the stands at Camden Yards, 41-year-old David Groseclose of Baltimore wondered what effect yesterday's suspension would have on Palmeiro's place in the game.

"If he did use steroids, we're in big trouble, especially since he testified before Congress and just got 3,000 hits," Groseclose said. "This hurts his reputation big time, and it puts a question mark on the whole thing about the Hall of Fame."

Asked about the Hall of Fame yesterday, Palmeiro said he would be honored to be selected someday.

"I hope people look at my career and see that I respected the game, my opponents and the players who came before me," he said.

Murray Chass and Duff Wilson contributed reporting for this article, and John Files contributed from Baltimore.